Best books of 2022

Hi all!’

It’s been a while, but I’m momentarily back to share my favourite books of 2022.

As usual, I’m sharing my top 20 books of the year!

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20 – 17

20. The Remaking of Corbin Wale:

• A soft romance between a baker who moves back to his home town, and a young autistic man who the community think is strange and stays away from
• A little heartbreaking but mainly sweet
• Couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook

19. Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots:

• A friends to lovers romance set in the 70s between the son of a rich family, who spends his days gardening (and who has ADHD), and a doctor (who is autistic)
• No plot, just vibes
• Very, very cute

18. Total Creative Control:

• A grumpy/sunshine romance between a television writer and his assistant, who is a massive fan of the tv show
• Extremely funny and such an easy book to binge

17. Gender Queer:

• A non-fiction graphic novel memoir where the author, Maia (who uses e/em/eir pronouns), discusses eir genderqueer journey
• Very moving, and relatable
• Made me cry!

16 – 13

16. The Death of Vivek Oji:

• A young man’s body is left outside his parent’s house and his family and friends try to come to terms with his mysterious death
• Heartbreaking, devastating, and unforgettable
• Definitely check the TWs before reading this

15. Claimed by the Orc Prince:

• Don’t look at me and don’t judge me for loving this book
• The prince of the elf nation is forced to marry one of the princes of the Orc nation to end a centuries long war between their people
• Incredibly sweet and very well written – I binged the whole series in three days

15. As the Shadow Rises:

• The sequel to There Will Come a Darkness
• Didn’t think I would enjoy this as much as I did, but the author knocked it out of the park!
• I ship Jude and Anton so much

13. Pack of Lies:

• The next series set in the same werewolf world as Big, Bad Wolf
• An amazing series starter that follows a veteran actor who is researching his brother’s mysterious death and unwittingly discovers werewolves
• I can’t wait for the next book in the series, which comes out in April

12 – 9

12. Agents of Winter:

• The long-awaited sequel to His Quiet Agent
• A beautiful established couple romance featuring an asexual and aromantic man
• I need to read more of Soto’s books

11. The Last Kiss:

• A touching romance between two soldiers on opposite sides of the economic spectrum: one, a gentleman’s son, the other a poor ostler. After the ‘great war’ ends, they struggle to find a way to be together
• Sally Malcolm is one of the queens of historical romance

10. Prince and Assassin:

• A fantasy romance where an assassin is given a mission to assassinate a prince but falls in love with him instead
• Very well written and unputdownable!
• I devoured the sequal and can’t wait for the final book to be released in January

9. Wuthering Heights:

• Can’t believe I’ve never read this book before
• Anyone who calls this a romance so obviously didn’t read the book
• One man’s quest to destroy two generations of a family

8 – 5

8. All Systems Red:

• Completely surprised by how much I enjoyed this novella!
• A murderbot accompanies a group of human scientists as they undertake routine tests, while all it wants to do is be left alone and watch TV

7. The Talented Mr. Ripley:

• I couldn’t put this book down, it was so intense!
• A con-man befriends a very rich man and gets caught up in his friend’s world, while he gets more and more jealous and eventually attempts to murder and then steal the identity of his very rich friend
• Can’t believe how much I rooted for Tom to steal Dickie’s identity and get away with everything

6. The Game of Kings:

• I really struggled with the first part of this book, but fell in love with it by the halfway mark
• A young lord, previously on the run and accused of treason, returns to his home in Scotland in an attempt to restore his reputation
• Loved, loved, loved the relationship between Lymond and his brother, and how many times they actively try to kill each other

5. The Long Game:

• The highly anticipated sequel to Heated Rivalry
• Shane and Ilya have been together for a few years, and Ilya is ready to be public with their relationship, but Shane is still worried it will destroy their careers
• Lots of angst, but damn, I missed these boys so much!

4 – 2

4. The Road:

• I am a sucker for stories about fathers protecting their children during an apocalypse
• A very interesting read but one I couldn’t put down
• I cried buckets

3. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:

• Not many people talk about the third Bronte sister, Anne!
• A book about a woman who escapes her emotionally and verbally abusive husband, and lives on her own selling her paintings, until a young man falls for her
• A profound feminist text

2. The Dance Tree:

• I adore Kiran Millwood Hargrave – the woman has never written a bad book
• The novel follows a young woman who has lost 12 children and is finally pregnant again, amidst the dancing plague that erupts in Germany and her sister-in-law returning from a convent where she was sent in punishment
• Powerful!

1

1. The Half-Life of Valery K:

• Natasha Pulley wins again!
• A scientist is pulled out of the gulag and sent to a mysterious city called City 40 to assist in radioactive research
• This book reads almost like a thriller, and was unputdownable!

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK READ IN 2022? LET ME KNOW!